After 44 years Polaris finally has her backstory told (spoilers)

Normally I don't write up reviews and summaries or believe individual issues deserve a thread on them, but for something that has been put off for 44 years I will make an exception given its in X-Factor a book most comic fans don't read, but should give a second look at in my view... but anyway.

Summary for X-Factor 243: It’s the anniversary of Lorna’s mother’s death and Lorna has an old picture of her mother and husband, Lorna wants to find out what really happened and why their plane went down and was magnetized and Longshot reads it with his psychometry and is shocked and basically runs away.

Lorna stops him and holds him up in the air demanding to know what he has seen. He refuses to tell so she gets Monet and does the same to her and demands for her to tell him. Lorna puts her down when Layla says she is going to tell her. They go on the roof and make a telepathic connection between Longshot, Monet and Lorna. Anyway the first story that is told Longshot demands of Monet which is basically a bad romance novel story where Magneto destroys the plane because if he can’t have her no one will. Lorna calls bullshit on it and Longshot gives up and allows the truth to be told.

Her mother Susanna Dane and father are screaming at each other with Lorna as just a child listening and getting upset. Obviously, her father is royally pissed off that her mother is screwing Magneto. Lorna says for them to stop fighting, but they keep yelling and her father tells her to shut up you little brat and her mother comes back and starts screaming at her to shut up as well. Then Lorna yells stop fighting and her powers manifest and her hair turns from brown to green and her powers surge wiping out the plane.

Magneto felt the EM surge and comes by with Mastermind. He says that it’s a pity that Susanna had such potential beyond being the mother of his children. But, Magneto says she isn’t ready for the life I have to offer you and wants her to live a normal life for now and has Mastermind remove these events from her mind. The telepathic link is now broken and Lorna screams and tears at her face with her nails and passes out. They tell Havok what happened and he says they are both lying and put this in her head, but Layla comes by and says it’s the truth and that either he can waste time trying to attack the messengers or he can try to help Lorna through this assuming you love her enough.

Review: An amazing issue from start to finish. PAD expertly references past issues of Lorna like Uncanny X-Men 430-31 were her parentage via DnA test was revealed to fans after another three way psychic connection. But, a lot was left hanging with that storyline including Lorna finding out that her mother’s plane that went down was magnetized. We find out one of the major background causes of Lorna’s mental instability and we find out a potential reason why Lorna has had so many issues with her powers over the years with one issue she can lift an Island into space with some help and the right before that she has problems picking up silverware. One issue she can fight the X-Men on her own and a few later she can’t fight Sabertooth.

She had an unconscious mental block in place regarding her powers all these years. We also find out why Magneto has been so standoffish about telling Lorna about her past after it was revealed when he could have in 2004 on Genosha or post her return home in Legacy. This storyline also used the same name of the character for Lorna’s mother created by Chris Gage back in 2008 for her House of M history which obviously was a different timeline from this one as her mother died of cancer in that one.

After 44 years of waiting the definitive backstory of Lorna’s history was told and I would give this issue a 10 for how well it did in that regard in so little panel time it had to work with. PAD really did his homework with this story and told one of his best stories over the years and the definitive origins story for an x-character that has been around for 44 years and had her parentage kicked around like a football by different writers.

This storyline makes it extremely difficult for the next set of writers and editors to just come around and retcon the story which is something Lorna has had to deal with alot over the years. Speaking of that Lorna’s mother’s husband was named Arnold which is a good homage to her creator Arnold Drake. The potential for future conflict between Lorna and Magneto is now there over her memories being erased, but nothing like the kind of permanent destruction a storyline where Magneto kills her mother out of jealously would have created. In all I would highly recommend this story to X-Factor fans, Polaris fans, Magneto fans, and comic fans who just want to read a damn good comic.

Her boyfriends childhood origin plane ride was attacked by aliens where his parents were taken to another galaxy as slaves, and his unborn brother was ripped out of his mother by hand because it got in the way of her being a fantastically exotic sexslave.

Her boyfriends childhood origin plane ride was attacked by aliens where his parents were taken to another galaxy as slaves, and his unborn brother was ripped out of his mother by hand because it got in the way of her being a fantastically exotic sexslave.

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The goal of the storyline was to tell a story that was simple and memorable for fans and so they could better understand the character not something convolted, complex and confusing. That had already been done with the whole Magneto telling her he is his daughter, no its really a robot pretending to be Magneto and possibly created by Magneto or not who was lying to her.

Sometimes more complex and exotic isn't better and this is one of those times. The story in fact has a real world feel to it given about 13% of fathers think they are the biologic dad of their kids, but really are not.

Lorna's messed up 60s origins story left the character as someone writers were loathed to use for the longest time other then as a girlfriend for Scott's brother so it really did damage as there was no core identity for the character. That was what this story was trying to build for Lorna I believe a core identity for her as a loney and very messed up person while further establishing her family ties to Magneto and his family that many fans and writers were reluctant to invest in without an actual origins story being told for her.

My most resounding thought on the character is when there was and explosion, so Quicksilver hoists her onto his shoulder and carries her out of the blast ranger, while saying "Lorna is your bottom getting larger?"

They had Magneto use the plural term regarding his children with her not the singular as you can see from the link below so it's still possible, but it's not going to happen anytime soon if it ever does as there is little appetite to give Magneto another child at this point in time.